


Letter of Resignation

by Oakstone730



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Auror, M/M, Prompt Fic
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2012-08-13
Updated: 2013-09-19
Packaged: 2017-11-12 01:00:22
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 5
Words: 4,979
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/484860
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Oakstone730/pseuds/Oakstone730
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Auror Malfoy turns in his letter of resignation to Head Auror Potter. Harry has some objections. Originally written for a meme over on LJ : the prompt was "Sneak Attack Kiss." Slash. HP/DM.  New: There is now a prequel! Author still unknown, but s/he as written a wonderful prequel to Letter of Resignation. It truly is wonderful - far better than I could've written and flows beautifully with where my story begins. You can find it here - http://archiveofourown.org/works/1351624?view_adult=true</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Letter of Resignation

"Malfoy!"

Draco heard the shout but didn't bother to turn around. He picked up his pace just fast enough that no one could accuse him of fleeing but hopefully enough to put some distance between him and Potter. Another fifty meters and he would be at that apparation point and could make his escape.

"Dammit, Malfoy! Stop!" The shout echoed and filled the atrium. Even the very deaf Linus Stoffinlope turned to stare at Draco. Draco forced himself to stop, bracing his shoulders he turned to watch Potter running towards him, a parchment roll gripped tight in his hand. .

All eyes were on them as Potter skidded to halt in front of Draco, "What the hell is the meaning of this?" He shook the parchment at Draco.

"I think it is self explanatory," Draco said, not bothering to look at the scroll that he had set on his desk a mere five minutes earlier. "Unless, you need me to read it to you."

"I know what it is, I want to know why you are resigning." Potter glanced at the paper. "Tell me why I shouldn't tear up this piece of shite right now. You are our best auror and you damn well know it."

"I do not need to offer any explanation." Draco said stiffly.

"You don't? You might not owe the ministry an explanation but you sure as hell owe me one." Harry glanced around at the ministry employees that were frozen in place. He looked at Draco, "I demand one."

"You demand an explanation, Head Auror Potter?" Draco snapped. "This is bloody well why-" He grabbed the Saviour of the Wizarding World by his arms and yanked him to him. Without giving him a moment to fight he mashed his lips to Potter's, grinding them together so hard that he tasted blood. He pushed Harry back and wiped his lips with the back of his hand. "That is why, Potter."

Potter looked at him with a stunned look on his face. Draco turned and walked away, glaring at everyone as he passed them. Those in the queue at the apparation point moved wordlessly out of his way as he walked up to them. He turned and disapparated.

oooooo

Draco landed in his living room. He walked over to the liquor cabinet and grabbed the bottle of twelve year old scotch that Blaise had given him for his birthday, spilling some into a glass he threw it back.

"Idiot. Bloody idiot." Two years he had managed to work side by side with Potter carefully keeping his feelings hidden and in one rash minute he had ruined everything. Potter had clearly addled his brain. Resigning from the Aurors was the only thing that he had done in the last month that had made sense.

oooo

Harry pounded his fist against the door, "MALFOY! I know you are in there!" There was no response, he pounded on the door again. It had taken him a full thirty seconds to recover from the shock of Malfoy kissing him. The git had already disappeared from the apparition station by the time Harry had reached it.

There was no doubt Malfoy was in his flat, he hadn't turned off the tracking charm that every Auror was required to use. "Let me in, Malfoy. I need to talk to you." Harry heard the sound of breaking glass and smiled to himself. Just what he needed to authorize the use of the advanced ward breaking charms. Auror in distress. Not responding to verbal commands. Breaking glass.

Drawing his wand, he screened for the wards that Malfoy had protecting his flat. He laughed at the complicated array that was displayed. "Little paranoid, Draco?" he murmured to himself as he set to work releasing the protective wards. He gave a delighted laugh as he felt Malfoy's response to his wards dropping, the bastard was putting up new ones as quickly as Harry was dropping them. The air sizzled with raw magic and flashes of light as they battled silently through the door.

"C'mon Malfoy - Draco. I just want to talk to you." The only response was a crack and a shimmer of blue sealing magic around the edge of the door. Harry stared at in exasperation, "Fine, Malfoy. If you want to play it that way. I'm done messing around. I'm coming in, you better step back." Harry lifted his arms and cast.

The force of the spell blew Harry against the opposite wall. Waving his arms to clear the dust he looked over to Malfoy's door and realized it wasn't there anymore. "Oops." Looking down the corridor Harry was glad that it was still the middle of the day and apparently all the other residents of the building because no one was peering out their door to see the cause of the crash.

Harry stepped over the rubble and into the flat, "Malfoy? Are you okay? Sorry about that, didn't think it would -" Harry's voice trailed off as he saw the crumpled figure on the floor. "Shite!"

ooooo

Malfoy moaned and shifted on the sofa, Harry hastily put his hand on the injured man's chest, holding him down, "Don't move just yet." Malfoy's eyes flew open and Harry saw the recognition in them a split second before the pain forced him to close them again. "I'm sorry, I didn't think-"

"Stop talking, Potter." Malfoy was laying perfectly still and Harry cast another diagnosis spell to make sure there was no sign of concussion. Another five minutes passed, during which Harry was fairly sure that Malfoy was fully conscious but playing possum. Harry got up and cast another repairing spell to the wall that he had already repaired, smoothing out the cracks a little more. Unfortunately, it would need a coat of paint to cover all the damage. He looked back to see Malfoy was sitting up, watching him. His hair had fallen forward and the fact that he hadn't fixed it told Harry that he still wasn't fully recovered.

"I know that you were raised by Muggles but surely even in that crude society they understand that when someone doesn't answer the door it means they want you to go away," Harry opened his mouth to respond, "And, you've put the door back backwards. You can fix it as you leave."

"I just wanted to talk to you. Why didn't you answer the door?"

Malfoy started to laugh, but winced in pain, "Clearly, I didn't want to talk to you." He stood up, cautiously, "Please go, I think you've done more than enough damage today." The scowl on his face is one that Harry recognized from staff meetings when Malfoy had had his fill of Ministry bureaucracy.

Harry hesitated and then nodded, "Okay, I'll go, if that is what you really want. Be sure to take some headache potion." He walked up to Malfoy, standing mere inches away from him, "Just one last thing," Leaning forward he ghosted a kiss on his lips. As brutally hard as Malfoy's kiss had been in the atrium, his was gentle, nothing more than a promise of what could be. He stepped back, "When you are ready to talk, send me an owl."


	2. Careful Deliberation

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Malfoy has disappeared, Harry wants to know why.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I hadn't intended Letter of Resignation to be anything more than a one-shot, but have been badgered into continuing it. It will not be epic, or updated regularly, or anything. Just written on the whim. The prompt for this chapter was "malfunctioning wards."

Harry gave an outraged cry of frustration and vanished the parchment that his owl had returned, unread. Malfoy had disappeared completely. The last time Harry had seen him was in the git’s bloody flat, when he had  _kissed_ the man and told him to owl him when he was ready to talk.

Instead of owling, apparating or even floo-calling, the stubborn Slytherin had just vanished. Harry had fully expected his snarky nemesis to show up for work on Monday morning. He hadn’t. Harry eyed uneasily Malfoy’s crumpled letter of resignation that had started this whole debacle in the first place.  
  
He didn’t believe for a second that Malfoy had been serious about resigning.  
  
Harry shook his head. There was no way, even if Malfoy did have some kind of feelings for Harry (and Harry desperately hoped he did), he wouldn’t quit because of them. Malfoy loved the job. He was born to be an auror. There was nothing Malfoy liked better than outwitting the criminals. He thrived on the chase, the trap.  
  
Glancing at the clock Harry decided that he may as well go home, he wasn’t accomplishing anything that needed doing and if he was just going to replay in his mind the two brief kisses that had happened, he may as well do it at home.  
  
Casting a patronus to his secretary to let her know he was leaving, Harry apparated straight to Grimmauld Place. The queasiness of apparation had barely stopped when Harry’s eyes focused across the room to see Malfoy sitting, no, lounging in Harry’s favorite chair.  
  
Malfoy took a sip from a snifter of Harry’s favorite brandy, “You really should do something about your wards. They seem to have malfunctioned.”

“Where in Hades have you been?” Harry said when he finally could speak.

Malfoy took another sip and set down the glass, “Here and there.”

“You missed work.”

“I quit.”

“Bullshit,” Harry responded angrily.

Malfoy gave a half-laugh and stood up, “Eloquent as ever, Potter.” Harry resisted the temptation to take a step back as Malfoy walked towards him.

“At least I didn’t run scared because of a kiss,” he said defiantly as Mal—Draco stopped inches from him.

“Two kisses. And you destroyed half of my flat,” Draco was standing so close that Harry could see the flecks of blue in his grey eyes, “And that wasn’t why I left.”

“Why did you?” Harry couldn’t help flicking his eyes down to Draco’s lips, they were so damn close. He wanted to just grab him, kiss him and stop this conversation.

“Unlike certain Gryffindors, I require time to make sure that the course I’m taking is the correct one.”

Harry gave a laugh, “So, you planned to kiss me in front of the entire Ministry?” He was rewarded by seeing a very faint flicker in Draco’s composure.

“I hate to admit but you have a way of getting under my skin. Make me act without thinking. That is why I left, so I could think.”

He was standing so close that Harry had to stifle a groan as his body started to react to Draco’s presence. He took a deep breath and focused on the conversation, “So what conclusions did you come to?”

“This,” Draco leaned forwarded and brushed his lips against Harry’s, “And this,” and he kissed Harry along his jawline. “And I definitely thought about this,” he said as his fingers started unbuttoning Harry’s uniform.


	3. Part III

“Wait!” Harry pushed Draco back, “You break into my house, drink my brandy and without as much as a by-your-leave you want to-to-snog?” He flushed as Draco raised his eyebrow at his stammer.  
  
“Actually, I was hoping we could go straight to the buggering,” Draco said, “Don’t tell me that you don’t want to, you made it perfectly clear--”  
  
“Of course, I want to but don’t you suppose we could talk about this? I mean, where have you been? What did you have to think about?”  
  
Draco heaved a sigh and held up his hand to study his nails. “I spent the time considering what should be done about this...situation. Then the solution became obvious. We fuck, get it out of our systems and move on.”  
  
“That’s it. You’re here for a one-off and that’s it?” Harry stared at Draco in disbelief.  
  
“Obviously, as I said, we get it out of our system--.”  
  
“No.” Harry stepped away from Draco and buttoned up the buttons that Draco had undone. “Not going to happen.”  
  
“Come on, Potter. What happened to that act first, think later Gryffindor idiocy, I mean, spirit?”  
  
“I don’t want a one-off.”  
  
“The hell you don’t,” Draco took a step forward and pushed Harry against the wall, trapping him. Harry knew that Draco could feel his erection just as easily as Harry could feel Draco’s. He closed his eyes to fight against the temptation to thrust against him. “You want this to happen, Potter. Why fight it?”  
  
“I’m not interested in a one-off, _Draco,_ ” He said, emphasizing his first name. “I want to go out with you. We’ve known each other for how many years? Fourteen? Do you really think that one night would do it? Do you know how long I’ve wondered about how you would feel against me? Hmmm? Since fifth year.”

“You really expect me--”  
  
“Quidditch matches. Auror trainings.” Harry reached down and cupped Draco, loving the feel of his stiff cock. “Endless goddamn meetings when all I wondered is what it would feel like to give you a blow job under the table. Wanting to feel you squirm and try not to react to me sucking you off.”  
  
Draco tried to pull back and Harry whip his leg out, trapping Draco’s and then he flipped the taller man so he was the one pushing him against the wall. “A year wouldn’t cover all the fantasies I’ve had about you, Draco,” he said the words slowly as he watched Draco’s expression which had finally lost its cool nonchalance.

He continued with a determination, “So, until you are ready to face what _is_ going to happen between us, I suggest you go home and drink your own brandy.” He gave one last squeeze to Draco’s crotch and pushed away from him. Harry walked, as steadily as he could, across the room to where the liquor was laid out and poured himself a glass of whiskey and lifted the glass to his mouth. There was a crack and Draco was gone. “Bastard,” he muttered himself.

Harry set down the glass and walked over to his desk and pulled out a parchment and quill. It took just a moment to scribble the message that he sealed with his wand as he walked to the window. Pulling up the sash he whistled for his owl, tapping impatiently as he waited for it. When it at last appeared in the window he tied the message to its traces. “Take this to Draco Malfoy, no need to wait for a response.”

 

 


	4. Game On

The wind was whipping over the downs and carried with it the clean salt smells of the sea. It also carried the guarantee that flying would be a challenge, Harry thought as he sought out a sunny spot in the stands. He stretched his legs out on the bench in front of him and closed his eyes. Malfoy was already ten minutes late but Harry had known he would be, if he showed at all. A smile danced across his face as he remembered their last encounter. It would have been so easy to give in to Draco, but Harry wanted it all and he wasn’t going to settle for anything less.   
  
There was a distant crack and Harry gave a sigh of relief. He had counted on the fact that Draco would not be able to resist the challenge, but Draco was anything but predictable: the kiss in the atrium of the Ministry had proven that. Harry picked up his broom and the box of snitches and walked out to meet him.   
  
“Potter.”

“Malfoy.” Harry set his broom and the box of snitches down on the ground and flipped the lid open. He carefully pulled out a snitch and held it gripped in his hand, feeling the flutter of wings against his palm. “You agree to the terms in my letter?”  
  
“What is there to argue with? I get the snitch, we fuck.”  
  
“I get the snitch, we go on a date. Either way, you tear up your letter of resignation.” Harry nodded down at the box, “Five snitches, one seeker game each week, five chances to get what we each want.”  
  
“I suppose five rounds in bed with you would suffice to rid me of this idiotic obsession I’ve developed,” Draco mused. “Although, I do wonder how good you are, if you would take a date over sex.”  
  
Harry laughed and picked up his broom, “I guess you’ll just have to catch the snitch to find out, won’t you? Ready?”   
  
Draco swung his leg over his broom and nodded, his face set with determination. Harry held up his hand and uncurled his fingers, releasing the snitch. They waited the required fifteen seconds and then kicked off the ground. Draco turned left without hesitation, following the path the snitch had taken.   
  
Harry leaned hard on his broom and flew to the far side of the pitch, and made a sweeping turn. The wind was stronger as he cleared the protection of the stands: tightening his grip on the handle he turned his back to the sun to give him the best vantage point. Draco was still looping around the arena, searching.   
  
Harry was betting on the snitch being blown towards him before Draco had a chance to spot it, even with magic, the wings of the snitch were no match against the strong northerly wind. He could see Draco was keeping an eye on Harry’s position as he searched for the snitch, methodically following a pattern that Harry recognized straight from the Slytherin practices at Hogwarts. He wasn’t worried about Draco finding the snitch first, win or lose, Harry was going to come out ahead.   
  
He couldn’t help but admire Draco’s lean figure as he bent low over his broomstick and flew into the wind. It had been during the gruelling hours of tactical flying coursework in the Auror program that he had really started to notice Draco as a man and not as a rival schoolmate. Draco was definitely a man, and had filled out quite nicely; his pointy chin and gaunt figure had matured into a chiselled look that made Harry lose focus on the conversation in many a meeting.   
  
The sound of the wind whipping the flags in the stadium brought Harry’s attention back in focus. The snitch. Forcing himself to look away from Draco he turned his attention to scanning the sky. It was Draco who spotted it first, though, as Harry saw him turn swiftly and headed towards a spot somewhere behind Harry. Wielding his broom around, Harry searched for the flash of tell-tale gold.   
  
There.  
  
With a shout of delight that he couldn’t hold back, Harry soared up and towards the keeper rings where he had just seen the snitch fly past. Draco was closing fast and he knew it would be a race to get it before him. He tightened his grip on the broom and accelerated into the turn. The snitch flicked upwards and Harry followed it, he could sense Draco coming up behind him but didn’t dare look back to see how close.   
  
The snitch was making a big loop, he realized, as it curved around and started flying towards the pitch floor. Anticipating where it was heading Harry pressed downwards and raced towards the spot. Draco had turned tighter and they were now a mere foot apart, Draco’s face was set with determination as he tried to edge ahead.    
  
Harry stretched out as far forward on his broom as he dared, Draco would have the advantage of his longer arms but Harry wasn’t afraid to accelerate towards the ground. He knew Draco tended to ease up when he got too close to the ground. Knowing it would be close he squeezed more speed out of his broom until he saw nothing but the blur of green grass with the gold orb coming towards it.  
  
Ten feet.  
  
Five.  
  
Pitching forward into the dive Harry reached out for the snitch as it skimmed a mere foot from the ground even as he pulled hard on his broom handle and rolled to lessen the blow of the ground. He hit hard.   
  
Harry groaned as he rolled onto his back and stared up at the blue sky. The first thought that occurred to him was that he wasn’t fifteen anymore, that was for certain. Even as his body screamed in protest of the crash, he looked down and smiled at the glimpse of gold visible through his fingers. He’d won the first round.


	5. The Contract

Even though he had timed his arrival a full hour after Ministry workers were supposed to be at their desks, there were still dozens of witches and wizards in the atrium as he strode past the appalling statue of Potter and his Gryffindor chums.

Aware of the stares that followed him, Draco went straight towards the lifts, he had no doubt that his very public fight - and kiss - with Potter the other day would have caused frenzy in the Ministry's gossip-mill.

Mercifully the lift doors opened immediately, stepping inside he gave a sigh of relief as the doors slid shut. As the elevator lurched and swayed, Draco carefully smoothed the lines of his robe, and allowed himself a small smile. Potter may think he won the first round but Draco hadn't been sorted into Slytherin without good cause. He was going to get what he wanted and finally be done with his ridiculous obsession with Potter.

When the lift jerked to a stop on the Auror level, the chatter ceased abruptly as soon as Draco stepped out of the lift. His desk was in the center of the floor, as chief strategist, he did not have a partner. His desk was bare except for a stack of scrolls and inter-office memos.

"Malfoy."

Draco turned to see Henderson motioning with his head towards Potter's office. "Boss said you were to go straight in, when you finally showed up."

Draco snorted and made a show of flipping through the memos, aware that everyone on the floor was watching him. After a careful study of even the most mundane memo (again lamenting the unwashed dishes in the shared kitchen) he mentally readied himself.

Potter had caught him off guard in his Seeker game challenge. Why Potter wanted to have a date was beyond all rational thought, but it did open the door for allowing Draco to play his best card. Ministry's regulations were quite regimented when it came to employee fraternization. Draco would make Potter to see the logic of simply fucking this madness out of their system, and no one needed to be any wiser. If they were to go on a date, as Potter had requested, there would be no way to prevent the Ministry from getting involved, or so Draco would threaten.

Fey, Potter's administrative assistant, looked expectantly at Draco. "Auror Malfoy, they are expecting you, you can go right in." She motioned with her fuchsia-shellacked fingernails towards the door that led to Potter's inner sanctum.

They?

Draco didn't have time to consider who else might be in the office as the door swung open and Potter stuck his head out. "Good, you made it, Hermione is already here." Without waiting for Draco to respond he turned and went back into his office, leaving the door open. Draco noted that Potter was wearing his red Head Auror robes, something he usually only did in the office when there was an official function or formal meeting.

Granger. She was standing next to the fireplace, the hunter green robes of the Ministry Legal Department bore the epaulet indicating that she had again been promoted. Potter came to a stop next to her.

"What is this about," Draco started to protest until he saw the scroll in her hand, it was the pale-yellow of employee rights contracts, and he realized in with a twist of his stomach that he had been outmaneuvered by Potter, again.

Potter ignored him as he turned to Hermione. "Ready, Hermione?"

Her hand tightened on the scroll and she looked at Potter, "Are you really sure, Harry?"

"Would one of you mind telling me what this is about? If it is all the same to you I'd just as soon return to my duties." His words seemed to have the opposite effect he'd desired as Granger unrolled the scroll and began to read.

"Auror Draco Malfoy, your direct supervisor, Head Auror Harry Potter, hereby does formally request permission to pursue a personal relationship with you. As is required by the Employee Rights Act you are free to accept or decline this request. If you decline, Head Auror Potter has signed an oath that there will be no attempts at retribution or sexual harassment. If you accept, a proxy-supervisor will be assigned to you for the duration of your relationship. You both will be required to report to the proxy-supervisor any issues or problems that arise as a result of this relationship. If the proxy-supervisor reports any areas of concern they will be reported to the Employee rights board and appropriate actions will be taken, upto and including dismissal of Head Auror Potter-"

"You don't need to read the whole thing." Draco cut her off before she read through the tiresome passage.

Granger rolled the scroll up, "Before you decide, Malfoy, I will need to interview you in private, to make sure that you are making this decision of your own free will."

Potter opened his mouth to object, but seemed to think better of it. "I'll wait outside-"

"Don't bother, Potter. I've never been afraid to say what I want to your face, I'm not about to start now."

Granger huffed, "The regulations are clear that -"

"Damn the regulations. Ask your questions." Draco locked his eyes were on Potter's, wordlessly challenging him.

Granger wisely recognized that there was no point in arguing. "Right. Draco Malfoy, do you swear that Head Auror Potter has expressed an interest in pursuing a relationship with you?"

"Yes."

"Has he threatened you or in any way put pressure on you to enter into this relationship?"

"No."

"Have you already begun this relationship?"

"Define begun." Draco said, as he stalled for time. Potter's lips twitched as he leaned against his desk and pulled something out of his pocket. He tossed it in the air. The snitch.

"Have you been on a date or engaged in physical activities that could be construed in a sexual nature." Granger said as Draco watched Potter repeatedly tossed the snitch in the air, catching it without ever taking his eyes off of Draco.

"Malfoy?" Granger prompted him to look back at her.

"Yes." He ground out the word reluctantly, compelled to answer truthfully even though he wished he had the nerve to deny everything and walk out of the office.

"Please describe these activities."

"I kissed him, he kissed me. We met for a Seeker's game last night." Draco responded as he looked over at Potter. Kissed was too weak a word to describe his encounters with Potter's mouth, but there was no need for Granger, or the Ministry, to know that kissing Potter was like teasing an alcoholic with a drop of whiskey, and it just left you craving more.

"Harry!" Hermione looked over at Potter in exasperation, "What did I tell you about not-"

"He kissed me in the middle of the Atrium. It is hardly a secret."

"And the rest?"

"Not much point in going through the paperwork of the fraternization regulations if the bloke isn't interested, I had to be sure." Potter had the nerve to wink at Draco as he turned back to face Granger.

Granger shook her head and picked up her quill, "I'll have to record that in the request." She made the notation and then cleared her throat, "Please tell me if that is the limit of your interactions."

"Well, I hope it is just the _start_ of our interactions." Potter was stroking the wings on the Snitch and the bloody thing was purring. Draco felt a shiver run down his back as he wondered what it would feel like to have Potter's fingers stroking him. One thing was certain; he wouldn't purr, moan, maybe, but never purr.

"Save it until the seal is on the paper, Harry, I beg of you." Hermione muttered before looking at Draco. "As chief liaison to the Auror department, I would ordinarily be the proxy, however that could be construed as -"

"You'll do." Draco said quickly, it was bad enough that this madness was being documented, he was not about to put up with more people being dragged into witness his humiliating attraction to Potter. "You are as disgustingly Gryffindor as Potter, you wouldn't-

"You still call him by his last name?" Granger looked at him incredulously.

"It is my name, Hermione. Draco has been calling me Potter for so long it would be strange to hear him call me anything else." Potter grinned at Draco, "So you're willing to sign?"

"Yes." Draco ground his teeth together. Potter had to know that he'd bested Draco again, but the battle was far from over.

"It would be better to name someone else as -"

"You'll do. Where do I sign?" Draco couldn't believe that he was conceding to this, but he wasn't about to back down from Potter's challenge. There was no doubt that their _relationship_ wouldn't last long enough for the Ministry goblins to file the paperwork. He would win the next Seeker's game and finally be able to scratch his maddeningitch for Potter and there would be no reason to play Potter's games any longer.

Granger unrolled the scroll and set it on the desk, Draco swiftly signed his name where she pointed. Potter took the quill from him and signed next to Draco's name. Granger tapped her wand next to their signatures and her seal appeared, with a final tap the document disappeared with a pop.

"Right, it is official. I really hope you two know what you are doing."

Potter gave a confident laugh, and eying Draco from head to toe, "Have no fear, Hermione, for the first time in an age, I know exactly what I want."


End file.
